To promote the name of Jesus Christ and His Word by testifying to His work in my life and the lives of my family and friends.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Powerful Audio Downloads

I don't listen to a lot of sermon mp3s, though I try to listen to a few each week (besides the great preaching we hear at CSide). For whatever reason, I've stumbled upon several VERY good sermons in the past couple of weeks! Here are some of the top downloads that have been a blessing (in no particular order)...

Proverbs on Parenting, Greg Mazak. My brother-in-law shared this series done by a teacher that he and my wife both had during their stay at BJU. Dr Greg Mazak delivers a (stand back!) powerfully practical series on parenting from Proverbs. Here is Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. If nothing else you will be sure to learn the theme of Provers ("the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom") and that the fear of the Lord is "a reverence for God based on a relationship with God expressed in a submission to God." (Proverbs 9:10)

The Story of Calvinism, Phil Johnson. In my last post, I talked about the great series on Calvinism (Clarifying Calvinism). This sermon was mentioned in the series. Phil breaks down Calvinism historically, hitting the high points of the key men on either side of the debate, the key councils. He tackles the distinctives of monergism vs. synergism, and finally breaks down the essence of the 5 points themselves. Note: Please pray for brother Phil and his family, as he is grieving the loss of his mother this week.

Pray and Lose Not Heart, Paul Washer. The order here was not intentional but it certainly works! This sermon is good in so many ways. It's doctrinally rich, pastorally loving, and extremely comical at times. It's one I will listen to again and again. Here is a challenge: Read the transcript here--even just a portion--you will want to hear the whole thing!

The Story of the Revelation of God's Glory, Mike Summers. My local pastor preached this fantastic sermon last Sunday, to kick off an extended series through the Gospel of John. It is saturated with Scripture (well over 50 passages, mostly in John, give a great bird's eye view of the Gospel!) We didn't just hear Scriptures read either. We heard solid preaching on the purposes of each of the four Gospels, the "I Am" statements, the 7 signs (miracles) that John includes to point to Christ's deity. And all this was tied into the main idea of the sermon (and of John's Gospel): "John’s pattern is to use signs to point to the glory of Christ, and to give evidence to urge faith in Christ."

The Shack: The Good, the Bad, and the Controversial. I also heard the audio of a very helpful panel discussion on the runaway best-seller, the Shack. If you have heard the buzz on this book--as I keep hearing, more and more--I would recommend you give this a listen. It doesn't just give helpful considerations for this book, but the exercise of walking through these issues will--as one panelist points out--"exercise our muscles of discernment" for all areas of discernment (movies, music, books, etc.)